Brett Rogers readies for Bellator tournament debut with American Top Team

Brett “Da Grim” Rogers (12-4) of St. Paul, Minn. has joined premiere Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) training camp American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla. in preparation for his first Bellator Fighting Championships heavyweight tournament matchup in Hammond, Ind. on Oct. 5, live on MTV2.

Brett Rogers currently does not have an opponent for his October fight, but that’s expected to change shortly with an announcement.

Rogers made his successful Bellator debut in June with a TKO win over Kevin Asplund. Rogers commented on joining the well respected American Top Team:

I’ve found a new home here at American Top Team and owe a lot of thanks to them. Coming here has changed my outlook on my career and life, in general, and I’m going to show the world that.

Rogers is best known for knocking out former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in just 22 seconds. He also gave MMA great Fedor Emelianenko all he could handle and more before succumbing to the heavyweight legend via KO in the second round.

He took Emelianenko down and punished him from the top position with strikes, cutting the Russian badly while causing significant swelling around his eye. He has always had big power in his strikes, but the largest hole in his game revolves around his ground game. That’s where jiu-jitsu blackbelt and ATT head trainer Ricardo Liborio wants to make an impact:

Brett has demonstrated a sincere re-commitment to his career and to becoming a more well-versed fighter. I always thought Brett could be one of the most dangerous heavyweights in MMA because of his raw strength and punching power, but that he was also lacking the ground fighting skills necessary to succeed at the highest level of the sport. That’s all changing now and, come next month, people will start seeing that.

Rogers went through a tough spot in his career last year with some legal issues in regards to a domestic abuse case involving his wife. However, it appears that Rogers is back on the fight track and now has a chance to resurrect his career with a chance to win Bellator’s heavyweight tournament.